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March 29, 2024, 01:21:32 PM

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Shouted offstage at the Big Chill...

Started by abbot lau, August 02, 2004, 01:23:32 PM

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abbot lau

We (that is 3 of us) took our sketch-and-films show to the Big Chill festival (mixmedia tent) on Friday and half way through were heckled to fuck by a bunch of drugged-up ravers who wanted the next act (an apalling novelty DJ) to come on.

It's not like there weren't enough dance tents around for these scumbags to go to.

Simon Munnery was on later that night and had to contend with similar treatment.

It was a pretty humbling experience, I can tell you.  Not the best confidence booster for our Edinburgh run...

Still, I suppose really great shows and really disastrous shows are better than the plain mediochre, 'went sort-of-OK'  nights.

mwude

I only turned up at the end in order to see MC Pitman who I personally find very funny.  "Apalling novelty DJ" isn't really an accurate term, 'novelty' sure but he's not a DJ, neither is he apalling.  

From the opinion of a non drugged-up non raver if the rest of your show is on a par with the "taxi driver shitting himself" video then I would be inclined to agree with the hecklers.  It seemed very fourth-form humour & badly acted.  However, as that was the only one I saw I'm in no real position to give any further comments on your act.

Best of luck for Edinburgh, although if you do want to get the 3D glasses back at the end it's probably best not to tell the audience first that you "personally jizzed on each one".

abbot lau

I was using the term 'apalling' more in reference to 'MC Pitman's'  primadonna-like attitude backstage than his act (which I could hear but didn't see as I was de-rigging at the time). I won't go into details as I don't want to get mired in petty mudslinging.

So if people don't like the acting or level of humour (and I'm not going to pretend that the shitting taxi driver is particularly high-concept) then it's OK to shout at the performance until it's ruined for everyone else?  Is that the point you're making?

Don't the words  'Big Chill festival' imply that

1) There's a whole festival of other stuff going on outside the tent
and
2) People should chill the fuck out?

And the way I saw it, the 'jizz' comment was supposed to make people less keen on keeping the glasses. Didn't work though. Of about 150 pairs given out, we got 6 back. And I think one of them had someone else's jizz on them.

Happyman

Heckling is just par for the course.  It's fair game with stand up, why shouldn't it be for films, etc.  I've sat through plenty of dreadful theatre productions and wanted to heckle.  Perhaps the crowd really hated your film?  Whenever we slag off tv comedy here we're effectively heckling - it's just that it's all quite sad and impotent because no one involved in making the shows hears us.  Damn.  I wish I hadn't pointed that out to myself.

mwude

I don't think heckling is acceptable unless something is truly abysmal.  I didn't see the show in its entirety & probably missed the worst of the heckling anyway, but when you asked if people wanted to see any more films the "no" was pretty unanimous.  Hecklers were the vocal minority of a large majority of people milling about saying: "This is shit.  When's Pitman on?"  That's a direct quote of what someone asked me & I overheard those words or similar from several different people.

I think you were put on at a very strange time.  It might have gone down brilliantly on early sunday afternoon, but just before an MC who will have a loud cult following at peak time on the first night?  Seemed a little odd to me.

1)  There's a whole festival of other stuff.  Yes, granted.  But when you're coming to the end of your act & people want to see the next performer they're not going to leave.  I certainly wouldn't have sat out the 5 minutes I was there unless Pitman had been on next.

2)  People should chill the fuck out.  Well, yes and no.  You were right opposite the dance tent and a quick peek in there would show that not everyone goes to that festival to get stoned & lie on their back looking at the stars.  If people think you're shit they'll let you know.  If people think you're shit & they are "drugged-up ravers" they'll really let you know and they'll be right cunts about it too.

But I genuinely mean it when I say good luck for Edinburgh.  You may fare better in a situation that isn't primarily music-based.   After all Simon Munnery was largely reduced to playing the mouth organ to keep the crowd happy which was a shame because he went down pretty well a couple of years ago.

abbot lau

Well you're bang on about the crap scheduling of Pitman right after us, and do you know whose fault that was?  Pitman's. (the organisers said he insisted they put him on earlier otherwise he'd walk out.)   So thanks a fucking bunch,  Pitman.


Anyway, I'm not asking people to lie on their back and look at stars. I'm not even railing against the hard-core pitman followers who were muttering 'this is shite'. (except the cunt who followed me around for 10 minutes after we'd finished trying to pick a fight)  It's the ones who agressively hijack someone else's show and make it impossible for them to continue or for the people who were into it to even hear what was going on. (and FYI we weren't coming to the ebd of our show- we would have had at least another 15 minutes had we not cut it short)

Heckling can be excused when people have paid to see a specific show and find something objectionable to  heckle at - (and good responses can be better than the regular material). But there's a limit to what can be done when all you can hear  is 'bleurgh abglebla fuckkingsukndl pitmanslpmanpt'

Anyway, thanks for the good wishes for Edinburgh

TotalNightmare

jemble and i are completely afraid of being heckled during our comedy show (well, i am) but we long since discovered that you have to pick your venues carefully.

We don't think that we could ever perform at a music tent/festival as we have a style that leans towards the 'end of the pier' review style show and as a result, would probably die on our arses.

However, we were lucky enough to be involved with an improv group that allowed us to do sketches half way through.

As for edinburgh, well, we are both skint fucks, and don't think we will be making any more appearances there for a while...

however, we do have a london sketch show offered to us at the Battersea Barge... lets hope it don;t fall though...

ahhh, the sketch show....

Jemble Fred

I'll take any fucker on. I have three put-downs, and they all involve broken glass.

As it goes, we were sort of heckled once, but it was by one twat who everyone else in the audience hated and he left right after. But being heckled during actual sketches is a fucker - what can you do? Just forget the sketch and come out of character?

It's a bridge to be traversed eventually, no doubt.

Utter Shit

Quote from: "abbot lau"Heckling can be excused when people have paid to see a specific show and find something objectionable to  heckle at - (and good responses can be better than the regular material). But there's a limit to what can be done when all you can hear  is 'bleurgh abglebla fuckkingsukndl pitmanslpmanpt'

Well isn't the fact that they thought you were shit 'finding something objectionably to heckle at'? I'm not having a pop, because I have no idea whether your show is any cop or not, but fact is, if as a member of the audience has said, the vocal minority spoke for a silent majority of people who didn't like the show, then perhaps you should improve your material rather than moaning at the people who heckled you. Evidently this isn't the work of a one-off cunt trying to be funny, but a group of people who spoke for many others in vilifying the show, it seems like you're just pissed off that your own shortcomings were spectacularly highlighted.

Then again, if these same people were anxiously waiting for MC Pitman to come on, then there are seriously problems. He's as funny as having a pineapple violently inserted etc etc.

Space ghost


abbot lau

Quote from: "Utter Shit"
Quote from: "abbot lau"Heckling can be excused when people have paid to see a specific show and find something objectionable to  heckle at - (and good responses can be better than the regular material). But there's a limit to what can be done when all you can hear  is 'bleurgh abglebla fuckkingsukndl pitmanslpmanpt'

Well isn't the fact that they thought you were shit 'finding something objectionably to heckle at'? .... fact is, if as a member of the audience has said, the vocal minority spoke for a silent majority of people who didn't like the show, then perhaps you should improve your material rather than moaning at the people who heckled you.


Well of course I'm pissed off that the majority of people in the crowd went from people who were laughing to people who were hurling abuse but this was more due to the influx of Pitman's fans than our own audience turning against us.  FYI, we were getting a brilliant response before the cunty element  drifted in.

This is the whole thing about festivals like the Big Chill:  because people have paid to get into the whole festival and not one specific show (as they do in, say, Edinburgh) they end up seeing a lot of stuff that they never would have gone out to see if it were playing in their city. In many cases that's great; people discover they really like stuff they'd never have known they'd have liked.  Because they've paid to experience the festival as a whole and  not just one specific act  they also have fewer qualms about walking out of something they're not enjoying and going to the next tent on.

The flipside, of course, is that some people specifically come to see certain acts and in doing so might catch some of the act that came before.  Fine, if they like it.  Tough shit if they don't. Doesn't mean they have to be tossers about it.  

QuoteEvidently this isn't the work of a one-off cunt trying to be funny, but a group of people who spoke for many others in vilifying the show, it seems like you're just pissed off that your own shortcomings were spectacularly highlighted.

This is the distinction I'm making:  Heckling because you paid to go to a comedy show and it was crap is possibly justifiable. Heckling because you came to see the next act and don't want to wait for the previous act to finish is just shit headed.

Happyman

If the people behind one of the shows which is routinely slagged off on here, The Mighty Boosh, say, came on and bleated, 'We're really good and the people who like us say we're good it's just a load of cunts who spoil it for everyone' would you think, 'Yeah.  They're brilliant' or would you think, 'Sad twats - they're deluding themselves'?  Just asking.  You might be fantastic.  It's equally possible you might be talentless and shit and the audience we're letting you down gently.  I wasn't there.

mr rou-rou

that's a bit pointed, I think he is just sharing the experience.

Just do your thing and learn your demographic, but I wouldn't warm up for anyone who's made a buck by producing material that pretty much boils down to 'your mum/girlfriend/sister's a slapper, look at what you're wearing, you're a sad bastard and I'm not, you're a tosser-twat-wanker-probably a Christian as well', the crowd is bound to be sneery and reptilian,

or a well-rounded chilled out individual such as Mwude :)

kidsick5000

There is nothing worse in life than being told that your work isnt funny.

A few months back, I was asked to take over the Papers (that I work for) sunday comic strip.

Having come up with some genuinley well recieved stuff before, and having deputised for the strip before, nothing seemed simpler.

But then, I tried to be too clever (they wanted something different from what  had gone before)

Nobody liked it. And it resulted in the idea of a sunday cartoon strip being dropped altogether, just 3 weeks in.

Didnt work. Feel like Goerge Clooney after Batman and Robin.

Its kind of a badge of honour now "I killed the sunday strip" but it felt really bad at the time.

Actullay felt like Bruno Kirby in Good Morning Vietnam after hes tried to emulate Robin Williams schtick.  "Deep down,  in my heart of hearts sir...I know I am Funny"

abbot lau

Quote from: "Happyman"If the people behind one of the shows which is routinely slagged off on here, The Mighty Boosh, say, came on and bleated, 'We're really good and the people who like us say we're good it's just a load of cunts who spoil it for everyone' would you think, 'Yeah.  They're brilliant' or would you think, 'Sad twats - they're deluding themselves'?  Just asking.  You might be fantastic.  It's equally possible you might be talentless and shit and the audience we're letting you down gently.  I wasn't there.

Well seeing as there's no objective measurement of what is funny, if I said something like ''We're really good and the people who like us say we're good it's just a load of cunts who spoil it for everyone'  then that would be bloody stupid.  Did I at any point in this thread say 'by the way, we're really funny so that's why those Pitman fans were wrong'?   No.  I'm just sharing the experience (thank you, Mr Rou Rou). And if being threatened with a kicking for disrespecting a white man who blacks his face up while stealing the black man's music like some sort of neo-Jolson is being let down gently then I think I'll pass on the alternative.

To put this in a 'Mighty Boosh'  perspective: if you happen to catch the last 5 minutes of TMB before, say, Seinfeld and announce that 'this is shit and those guys are cunts' then that's fine- you're only talking to your TV on your own. If you're in a room full of people who are enjoying the Mighty Boosh on TV  (however unlikely that may seem)  then it's nothing to do with how unfunny you think the Boosh is or how funny the Boosh think they are or even how deluded and sad you think they are- it's just a courtesy thing to reserve your comments until the show's over.

I think I'm repeating myself a bit here but it's a point worth making. And by the way, I can't stand the Mighty Boosh, though I happened to meet Julian Barrett once and he was a nice bloke.

chand

Quote from: "abbot lau"And if being threatened with a kicking for disrespecting a white man who blacks his face up while stealing the black man's music like some sort of neo-Jolson is being let down gently then I think I'll pass on the alternative.

I think it's unfair to suggest Pitman is stealing the black man's music (except that song where he 'steals' Roots Manuva's 'Witness (One Hope)' which he did with Manuva's approval). He's clearly got an affection and love for hip-hop, so while his angle might be studenty humour, he's no more stealing the black man's music than, say, Braintax or The Streets or Aspects. The blacking-up is of course, supposed to be because he works down a pit, and therein lies the gag (a pretty obvious one given the conceit that he is a pitman), whether you like it or not. I don't think he's exactly a racist. I think Pitman is as aware of the ironies and the way he will be viewed as, say, MC Paul Barman is.

Utter Shit

Quote from: "chand"
Quote from: "abbot lau"And if being threatened with a kicking for disrespecting a white man who blacks his face up while stealing the black man's music like some sort of neo-Jolson is being let down gently then I think I'll pass on the alternative.

I think it's unfair to suggest Pitman is stealing the black man's music (except that song where he 'steals' Roots Manuva's 'Witness (One Hope)' which he did with Manuva's approval). He's clearly got an affection and love for hip-hop, so while his angle might be studenty humour, he's no more stealing the black man's music than, say, Braintax or The Streets or Aspects. The blacking-up is of course, supposed to be because he works down a pit, and therein lies the gag (a pretty obvious one given the conceit that he is a pitman), whether you like it or not. I don't think he's exactly a racist. I think Pitman is as aware of the ironies and the way he will be viewed as, say, MC Paul Barman is.

Hip-hop fan? This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

As for 'stealing black music'...Christ, this isn't 1990 any more. Hip-hop isn't black music any more, it hasn't been for years. That's not to say it's white music, but it's accessible from both sides of this ridiculous two-tone rainbow of division we call race.

Now THAT's a soundbyte.

Incidentally, I would accept Pitman as a comedian if he was funny, and I'd accept him as a rapper if he could rap. As he can do neither, I'll accept him as a buffoon, do a juggling act for the masses and then be on my merry way.

mr suit

Quote from: "abbot lau"This is the distinction I'm making:  Heckling because you paid to go to a comedy show and it was crap is possibly justifiable. Heckling because you came to see the next act and don't want to wait for the previous act to finish is just shit headed.

got to back you up on this. i've only ever seen a few (well received) comics at festivals, but the "other band" crowd at festivals can be extremely nasty sometimes.

i've seen bits and peices of some terrible bands in my time. ( i saw all of Chikinki before The Killers and HOTS). on each of these occasions i've not jived, i sometimes applaud ever so slightly (and more so when they finish), and then tell my mates i think they were rubbish.

but i don't start flinging stuff (bottles or swears) at the band at a festival. it's just not gentlemanly. if it's someone rubbish i was scoping out, i'll either stick it out, or walk away. if i'm hanging around for someone else, then i'll grit my teeth and complain afterwards.

mwude

Quote from: "mr rou-rou"Just do your thing and learn your demographic, but I wouldn't warm up for anyone who's made a buck by producing material that pretty much boils down to 'your mum/girlfriend/sister's a slapper, look at what you're wearing, you're a sad bastard and I'm not, you're a tosser-twat-wanker-probably a Christian as well', the crowd is bound to be sneery and reptilian,

or a well-rounded chilled out individual such as Mwude :)

Oh fucking hell rou.  I spend years cultivating a persona of reptilian sneeriness and you go and ruin it all with one sentence making me sound like a reasonable human being.  Bastard.

But yes, chand & Utter Shit have just rather neatly summed up what I said in a PM to abbot lau.  I'm convinced that accusations of neo-Jolsonism are unfounded.  The idea that a white person with a true love of hip-hop is "stealing the black man's music" seems very odd to me.  On the same basis I think you could accuse Mark & Lard's Shirehorses of 'stealing the white man's music'.  Don't make no sense does it?

To be honest I'm still quite gob-smacked that you managed to rile people so much that you were offered a fight at what is supposedly the most middle-aged, middle-class, least-threatening, warm showers & plenty of toilet roll festival ever.  At least your work is provoking a reaction!


edit - just to add that your plight has been noted on a "highlights & disappointments" thread on the Big Chill forum.  Someone comments about 'the Pitman lot' who came in & ruined your performance.

chand

Quote from: "mwude"But yes, chand & Utter Shit have just rather neatly summed up what I said in a PM to abbot lau.  I'm convinced that accusations of neo-Jolsonism are unfounded.  The idea that a white person with a true love of hip-hop is "stealing the black man's music" seems very odd to me.  On the same basis I think you could accuse Mark & Lard's Shirehorses of 'stealing the white man's music'.  Don't make no sense does it?

Quite, Pitman is neither a good rapper or a particularly funny comedian, but I find 'It Takes A Nation Of Tossers' an enjoyable listen every now and then, particularly 'Pitman & Her', though that's possibly due to my disdain for The Matrix, or more specifically, fans of The Matrix. He would be annoying if he got big though, like say, Goldie Lookin' Chain.

I hereby reclaim my hip-hop cred by saying I'm listening to Labtekwon. Phew.

chand

Quote from: "Utter Shit"As for 'stealing black music'...Christ, this isn't 1990 any more. Hip-hop isn't black music any more, it hasn't been for years. That's not to say it's white music, but it's accessible from both sides of this ridiculous two-tone rainbow of division we call race.

Well, yeah. We don't have a go at rock bands any more for recycling the rock'n'roll that Elvis robbed from the black man, and there are some very good white hip-hoppers out there. Pitman, GLC and MC Paul Barman might take some flak because they're messing around, but not much more so than, say, The Beastie Boys, who seem largely respected these days.

Utter Shit

Quote from: "chand"
Quote from: "Utter Shit"As for 'stealing black music'...Christ, this isn't 1990 any more. Hip-hop isn't black music any more, it hasn't been for years. That's not to say it's white music, but it's accessible from both sides of this ridiculous two-tone rainbow of division we call race.

Well, yeah. We don't have a go at rock bands any more for recycling the rock'n'roll that Elvis robbed from the black man, and there are some very good white hip-hoppers out there. Pitman, GLC and MC Paul Barman might take some flak because they're messing around, but not much more so than, say, The Beastie Boys, who seem largely respected these days.
The Beastie Boys are an embarassment nowadays, IMO. In their golden age, their lack of decent (or, for the most part, coherent) lyrics was ignored because of their youthful exuberance and excellent delivery on the mic, but nowadays, and especially having seen one of their live shows on MTV2, they're awful...and it's not because they're white, it's because they're old. Ageism - the new racism. They just don't cut it any more.